


the family that dies together, stays together

by Ford_Ye_Fiji



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, BAMF Number Five | The Boy, Five does everything on his own like baby no, Fluff and Angst, For now though take this, Gen, Hurt Number Five | The Boy, I want to make a longer one some day, Number Five | The Boy Needs A Hug, Number Five | The Boy-centric, Okay so main characters die, Protective Number Five | The Boy, SO, Time Loop, but they don’t stay dead
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:21:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26094028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ford_Ye_Fiji/pseuds/Ford_Ye_Fiji
Summary: Sister-brother bonding time takes a turn for the worst...
Comments: 33
Kudos: 440
Collections: Amazing Fics that make me feel things





	the family that dies together, stays together

**Author's Note:**

> Ya know... Five's power upgrade is the perfect excuse for a time loop story...

Five hunched inwards, scowl stuck on his face as he glowered around the store. His shoulder blades itched and he wanted to tear his own skin off. Allison called, "What about this one, Five?"

He turned, lips curled. He sneered when he saw the shirt, " _No._ "

She laughed, "Oh, come on Five! It’s perfect." She was holding up two shirts, both a darker blue, one that said ' _I’m the grandpa_ ' and another, clearly part of a matching set, said, ' _Warning, I have a crazy grandpa and I’m not afraid to use him._ '

Five's shoulders hunched, "Unacceptable."

Allison pursed her lips, "I’ll put it in the cart as a maybe."

Five pinched the bridge of his nose, "Allison, do- do we have to do this? I don’t need more clothes. The academy uniforms suit me just fine."

Allison shot a disapproving look at him, "You’re going to run out of uniforms eventually- what with how quickly you stain them nowadays." She raised an eyebrow, lowering her voice, "Blood is a bitch to get out of clothing."

Five waved a hand, "Fine. But do we have to be shopping in this section? Can’t we look at the suits?" He didn’t like the hint of the whine that he allowed to enter his voice, but needs must, " _Please?_ " 

Allison's expression softened and Five's stomach twisted with guilt at the manipulation, but he pushed it away. If she insisted on projecting her worries and care about Claire onto him simply because he was still in a child's body wasn’t his problem. He might as well use it for something.

Allison patted his shoulder, "Of course, we can go there soon. I just wanted you to have something casual to wear sometimes." She carefully folded the shirts she’d gotten, "I have the most money out of everyone in the house right now, and I felt bad because... well thirteen year olds can’t exactly get  _jobs_ _._ "

Five sighed, scratching his chin, anxious to leave the children's clothing aisle, "Speak for yourself. Hey, give me a second."

Allison frowned, "Wha-“ before she even finished her sentence Five had warped away. Allison sighed and grabbed her pile of clothing, heading towards the men's section.

A woman stepped out in front of her and then paused, gasping, "Holy shit- Allison Hargreeves!"

Allison stopped, smiling awkwardly, "Ah. Hi."

The woman held out her hand, "Oh my god, I’m such a big fan of your movies.  _Oh my god_ , what were the chances of meeting you here? Like one in a million right?"

Allison laughed nervously, the woman's voice attracting far too much attention, “Yeah. What were the chances? Look, I’m so sorry but-“

The woman turned, "Hey, Rich! Mike! Look it’s-“

Allison's eyes widened, "Wait-“

There was a familiar flash and Five stood there, glowering up at the woman who startled backwards. Five frowned, "Who the fuck are you?"

The woman opened and closed her mouth, completely confused and taken aback by Five's words. Five rolled his eyes, turning to Allison, "Hey sis, you coming or what? I want to stop by and see how Delores is doing too."

The woman blinked, "Delores?"

Five glared at her, "Yeah, my wife. _Who_ are you?"

Allison laughed, "Okay, Five. Let’s go now." Allison added with a smile that she hoped was apologetic rather than relieved, "Lovely to meet you."

The woman started, pulling out a notepad, "Wait, wait, Allison I just wanted an autograph-“

Allison stopped, feeling guilty, "Ah, okay."

Five scowled, taking in the woman's outfit: blond hair, cat eye glasses, and a glaringly pink outfit. His eyes stopped with suspicion on her smart black heels.

Allison picked up the notepad, signing her name. The woman asked, "So uh, how's life, huh? I heard about that... Patrick and Claire drama right? I read about that whole umbrella academy superpower stuff but you know, I didn’t really think-“

Allison almost snapped the pen, "Yeah..." she opened her mouth, feeling her temper rising, but Five beat her to it.

He crossed his arms, "You’ve got a lot of nerve harassing my sister."

The woman stared, Allison looking at him with surprise, "What?"

Five stuck his hands in his pockets, "You're a reporter, I’m not dumb. So. You’re going to take my sister's autograph and walk the fuck away without asking anymore personal questions or digging for more gossip for whatever pathetic rag you write for, capiche?"

The woman spluttered, "Why- how dare you speak to me that way-“

Five stepped forward, "Walk away or I will take your fake blond hair and shove it  so far  up your ass that your IQ will be lowered for weeks."

Allison choked on a laugh and then did her best to look scolding and contrite.

The woman's mouth snapped shut and she grabbed her notepad back, speed walking away with an appalled glance or two backwards before vanishing among the clothing aisles.

Allison looked down at Five, "How did you know she was a reporter?"

Five scowled, "She was acting  too dumb. And her shoes didn’t match the rest of her outfit." At her raised eyebrows he huffed, "I’ve been spending too much time around Klaus. And for some reason he is  _obsessed_ with that dumb fuck movie about the blonde lawyer."

Allison snorted, "Klaus made you watch  _Legally Blonde?_ "

Five glared, "I don’t want to talk about it."

Allison smiled, "Okay. We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want too Five."

His shoulders slumped with relief and Allison added, "And thank you. Really."

Five glanced up at her and for a single second, a pleased smile flashed on his face before he turned and sighed, throwing back sullenly as he stalked toward the suit section, "You can get the grandpa shirts."

Allison blinked and smiled brightly, warm and touched, before following her brother deeper into the store.

* * *

"I think we're being followed."

Allison shook her head, "Five..."

Five scowled at her, "I’m not being paranoid. I think someone is following us." He pointed at a random storefront in the opposite direction, "Here look, those two guys around seven o’clock." Allison followed his finger, looking for the two men out of the corner of her eye.

She frowned as she spotted them, "Okay. Are you sure?"

Five glared at her, "No, I’m making it up-  _of course I’m sure!_ "

Allison raised an unimpressed eyebrow, "I just want to be absolutely positive before we assault them in an alleyway, Five."

Five sulked as she nodded, abruptly turning to the right, "C'mon, let’s go old man."

Five trotted after her. Allison watched, internally groaning as she glanced back and saw the two men duck in after them. Really? Why couldn’t Five have been wrong for once?

Allison stepped in front of Five, obscuring him from their view. He looked up, nodded, and then vanished.

Allison turned around, letting her shopping bags drop. The two men stopped as they realized her brother wasn’t with her any longer. She folded her arms, brushing her dark hair behind her shoulder, "Who are you and why are you following me?"

The men shifted. The shorter one stepped forward, "We're just here for the boy."

Five warped in behind them, lips curling, already tired, "Yeah, well, eat shit and get in line."

Five frowned at their non-reaction and threw a thick jab to the shorter man's side.

The men turned, but Five was gone again. He reappeared to the taller one's right, grabbing his gun with a quick, "Thank you!" accompanied by a feral smile.

He popped into existence behind them, shooting them both with two quick shots. Their bodies fell with two successive thumps. Five smiled and dropped the gun. He leaned down, inspecting them both before shrugging and turning to face his sister, "Well that was easy-“

He turned to see Allison, rolling her eyes fondly, mouth opening to speak just as a shot rang out, loud and deafening in the silence.

His mouth opened, eyes widening, a scream forming in the pit of his lungs, bubbling up and out- tearing at his throat as blood burst from his sister's head as it  was blown wide open . Allison crumpled, eyes open, lips parted. She lay there, too still, her blood pooling on the pavement. 

He ran forward, shredding the skin of his knees as he slid on the pavement, hands hovering over her, "No no no no!"

He looked up, seeing the dark blur of a silhouette on the rooftops, fury filling his veins. Five snarled, "This is not fucking happening. Not again." He clenched his fists, calling upon that power he’d called upon in the barn. He heard another bullet ricochet, but by then he was moving fast, back by the men entering the alleyway, up, to the sniper on the roof.

Exactly one minute earlier, he stood behind the sniper on the roof, calmly setting up his gear. Five seethed, knees covered in a mix of his and his sister’s blood. He grinned, full of rage, "Hey."

The man turned, and Five blinked out of existence, reappearing on his back. He grabbed his neck, the man struggling furiously, and Five twisted tighter, snarling, "Don't fucking touch my family, asshole!" He jerked and with a sickening snap, he broke the sniper's neck.

Five let him fall and then, turned, heart stopping as he heard a gun shot. He vanished with a pop, reappearing in the alleyway again, only to see his sister leaning against the wall, a hand pressed into her stomach, gasping at the two men in front of her, "I- I heard a rumor-“

Five growled, animalistic and launched himself at the men. The first one dropped easy, the second one fired and Five fell back, pain bursting along his abdomen. That wasn’t going to stop him, however. Five ripped apart space with a feral howl, coming back to reality with the gun in his hand and the man dead.

He turned, the pain in his chest blossoming, "Allison? Allison!" He knelt down, hands pressing against her stomach, "No, no, no!"

Allison smiled, blood in her teeth, "Sorry Five. They had... they had ear plugs. They came pretty prepared."

Five couldn’t help the tears in his eyes as he looked back up at her, "Don't worry. I’ll... I’ll fix this. It'll be okay, Allison."

She nodded weakly, "I trust you, Five." She sucked in another breath, "I... I trust you."

Five's eyes blurred as she smiled reassuringly, head tilting, the light fading from her eyes, chest falling still.

Five scrubbed at his eyes, forcing himself to breathe, "Ear plugs. Sniper. Right."

He yanked on the fabric of time, bending it to his will as he forced his body to wind back as well, bullet wound closing up and pulling at his skin like a grotesque vacuum rearranging his most vital organs.

Five dropped into space in front of his sister, pushing her, "Allison, run! Rumors won’t work!" He turned, vanishing again, falling on top of the sniper on the roof, knocking him off balance. Five rolled, knees smarting once again from the rough impact. He grabbed the sniper rifle, swinging and bashing the surprised man's head in.

He turned, vanishing in a flash of blue.

He reappeared in front of the two men, sniper rifle aimed at them, "Drop it!"

They fired.

One fell from Five's shot. The other struck true and Five fell backwards, gasping.

Allison screamed, "Five , _no!_ "

_Why hadn’t she fucking run?_

Five tried to turn, " _Allison-!_ ”

The man fired agin and his body jerked from the impact. He squeezed his eyes tight, trying to call upon his power. Allison snarled, "I heard a rumor-“

Another shot rang out, but not at him this time. He managed to twist around just in time to see her fall, just out of his reach. Five choked on a sob.

The man approached, footsteps softly falling as he aimed the gun at Five. Five hissed, " Fuck you. " He reached for the strands of time and  pulled .

This time, he knew what he was going to do. He reappeared behind the first two men in the alley, grabbing the gun of the taller one right out of his hands. The man started and Five shot them both, their blood splattering his clothing. He heard the shot of the sniper and saw Allison falling. That wasn’t his concern this go around. He just needed to gather the materials ready for next time. He vanished, reappearing behind the sniper on the roof. Five fired, watching with a grim satisfaction as his head exploded, staining his uniform with brain matter.

Five warped into the building below, eyes hard, not bothering to pay attention to the shriek of a woman. He pointed the gun at her, raising an eyebrow, "Give me a pillow and maybe I won’t kill you."

She nodded, terrified and confused, but tossed him a pillow (a perfect homemade silencer) from the couch where she sat curled up with a book.

Five grinned, not missing her wince at the gory sight he made, "Thanks."

He pulled at time again, bending it to his will.

He  _was_ going to _win_.

* * *

Allison turned around, letting her shopping bags drop. The two men stopped as they realized her brother wasn’t with her any longer. Allison folded her arms, "Who are you and why are you following me?"

The men shifted. The shorter one stepped forward, "We're just here for the boy."

Allison pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling the beginnings of a headache coming on, "Shit. Are you serious? What’d he do now?"

They didn’t react, almost as if they hadn’t heard her.

At that moment, there was a flash behind them and Five stood there, _covered in_ _blood_ , which had Allison momentarily contemplating  what _the actual fuck_ he’d gotten up to in the literal  _five seconds_ since she’d seen him last, "Alright, eat shit you  _fuckers_ ."

Allison started forward, "Five,  _what-?_ "

Five kicked in the knee of one man, a gun in hand ( _a gun he definitely hadn’t had when they’d left the house- she'd checked. Throughly._ ) as he reached for the other, tearing out an ear plug from the taller man's ear, which explained their deafness. ( _But how had Five known?_ )

The taller man jerked backwards from the contact, pulling out a nearly identical gun- actually no- an  exactly identical gun. Five reached forward with his pistol, firing it. The back of the first man's head exploded outwards with blood and brain matter. Five turned just in time to see the taller one raising his weapon, finger pressing down on the trigger for a point blank shot.

There was no way he’d be able to _jump in time-_

Allison threw out her hands, desperate and terrified, shouting, "I heard a rumor that you couldn’t shoot us!"

The man's hand jerked and his gunshot went wide as Five threw himself backwards.

The man turned, snarling, "You bitch!" 

Five pulled his handgun up and shot his head in, perfectly centered as the man fell back against the other side of the alleyway and slumped down.

Five dropped the gun, running a hand down his face, clearly exhausted, "I did it." He turned to Allison who had crossed the distance between them, "Are you okay?"

Allison nodded, kneeling down, "Five, why are you covered in  _blood_ _?_ "

Five waved a hand, "No reason I’m fine. We're all- we're all fine." He laughed disbelievingly, "We're all fine!"

Allison frowned, "Five, you’re acting weird. Well, weirder than usual. Are you sure you’re alright?"

Five shook his head, "Yeah. Totally. How long has it been for you?"

Allison blinked, a dawning realization beginning in the back of her mind, "Five, did you  _time travel?_ Did you just- seriously?  _Why?_ "

Five bent down and picked up the gun he’d dropped, and then the second, taller man's gun. He held them out, two exactly identical weapons- perfect twins or- really, the  same gun, "Oh, just you know, a couple times. It kept ending badly."

"You’re kidding me."

Five shook his head, "Nope. But this, Allison, is why we're careful. And I managed to figure out, they're rogue commission agents. Apparently they weren’t very happy about the uh, change in management." He shrugged, "They're not particularly skilled, you're just too vulnerable in this alleyway. There’s also the sniper. But I got him this time."

Allison took the guns, recognizing the weary hysteria in the edge of his tone, something that Five himself didn’t seem to know yet, "Okay. Here, how about you take these guns and wipe the prints and leave them here for the police. You need to change and then we're going to go home and eat a shit ton of sweets."

Five nodded, head bobbing, "That... that sounds nice, actually."

Allison stood, digging through the bag to find one of the purchases she’d made, "Here. Change. And- ah ha! I’ve got some wet wipes."

* * *

Allison was worried.

Five was gazing into the back of the cab's headrests with a classic thousand yard stare, hands folded in his lap. The unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt over a faintly red stained undershirt and his battered schoolboy shorts really completed the deadened look.

Allison bit her lip, "Five?"

He looked at her, "Yeah?"

She smiled sadly, taking in his messy hair and utterly exhausted eyes. She reached out and pulled him closer, taking note of how little resistance he gave (only a tired grunt). She rested her chin on top of his head, "Thanks, old man. You know, for saving me."

Five yawned, "Well, someone has to... someone has to look out for all you irritating assholes in this family."

Allison smiled, carding her fingers through his hair.

The car was quiet until Five exhaled in sleep.

Allison cradled her brother in her arms and gave the cab driver a tight smile when he glanced back at them with confusion at their conversation.

Five slept soundly on and Allison found that, for the moment, all was well. 

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is here: https://ford-ye-fiji.tumblr.com/


End file.
